Our New Friends!

Kala and I decided we were gonna dress up and go somewhere nice for dinner the other night, so we're walking down Arch Street looking for a cute place and we start talking to these little boys. So adorable, 3 brothers and 1 cousin age 10-15, but they look about 9-11...seriously the sweetest boys.



We took them out for dinner and they showed us around all the processions and were so much fun, but you could tell they were from a poor family. They were so excited to eat in a restaurant...it was just this little Italian place, almost fast food, but they like didn't know what to do with the menus and stuff.

Anyhow, they were so precious, and I went to their house the other day. Let me tell you it was so hard. There are 6 kids ranging from age 2 to age 18 all living with the mom (no dad...he left) in one room. A small room. There were 2 big beds, a set of bunk beds, one wardrobe with everyone's clothes in it, an old TV, a stove (it looked like the stove might have worked but the oven didn't), and a cupboard with a few dishes in it. Some tacky Catholic posters on the wall, one pillow per bed. And they were so proud. If you continue down their hall you see like 4 of 5 other rooms in which other families live, and one bathroom and pila (for washing dishes etc.) that they share with all the other families. We sat in this little room (all of us plus the aunt and 2 of her kids who live close) and talked for a long time, but it was so hot! One of the little girls named Nere had had a stye (sp?) on her eye and now it's all swollen and red...she said it's been like that for like 3 weeks. And one of the little girls was coughing a lot. I have no idea how much this family gets to eat because the mom works at a factory where she paints doors...that's her job to support all her kids. I think there might be some sort of a program that helps them, because they all had shoes (not good ones, but shoes) and most of them go to school, which is so important. After school all the little boys take English lessons with this woman from the States that they've known for a while. So good, it's good that they know what they have to do to break the poverty cycle. I know that they'll probably always live in that one room, I can't change that, but I can help them to be as healthy as possible and as happy as possible during that time. But that's the thing, they're so happy. They're so sweet...I bought the boys a soccer ball and we played in the alley for like an hour and they really know how to have a good time with what they have, and the boys are so respectful and the family really loves eachother. It's really eye-opening. So anyhow, I got some medicine for Nere and my dad told me he'd help me pay for medicines for the rest of them, we're gonna try to get them vaccinated and I'm taking them shopping for shoes and clothes (it's dirt cheap here) this week probably. I'll also try to see what I can do food-wise to help, or at least find out how they're eating, cuz as of right now I have no idea. The wierd thing is when I first met them, they didn't stand out as poor. They looked well/decently-dressed, but now I know that those are the same clothes they wear every day. It's so strange because this family is not an exception. On the outskirts of this beautiful tourist city are hundreds of familes as poor or poorer that my friends. Oh I forgot to say, when I got in from playing soccer with the boys, the mom (Julieta...so sweet) gave me this purse. It's like black and tan knit, she said she bought it a few weeks ago and wanted to give it to me as a present. That probably cost the mom at least a day of work. I almsot cried, this family has nothing. Seriously nothing, and they were so grateful for my friendship that they wanted to give me something. Wow, if that's not love. What an amazing family. Wow.

Chichi Chin and Hombre Hombro

After the beach I was absolutely exhausted so I thought a massage was in good order (they're dirt cheap down here). Since it was Good Friday, nobody was open but then I remember this real weird woman that came up to me in the Bodegona (grocery store type place) and asked me if I was the type of person who liked massages. Anyways she gave me her card so I called her up. Let me tell you she is so strange. Soooo strange. She's about 65, speaks bad Spanish (even after living here for 10 years..she's from California, guess that says something huh?), and rides her bike everywhere. I didn't take any pictures of her, but I should have. So we met at this cafe and she brought me to her little house. Let me tell you this woman can talk. We stood outside her house for like 15 minutes talking about her garden...what she eats, what you can make with the different herbs, the ancient Inca civilizations and what they ate. I was confused, I wasn't sure where my massage fit in to the mix. Then we went in and she had one main room with the living room/massage area on one side separated by a dresser from her bedroom area on the other side. K so anyways, the massage was great, however I found it a little strange when she began thanking my organs for all their hard work (it sounded like a prayer..."thank you liver, thank you for all you do for the Crista Company, thank you for acting as a filter and not allowing that bad bad bacteria to get into my bloodstream") Yeah she calls my body the Crista Company and talks to all its employees. She thanked my skull for protecting my squishy brain, the boss of the Crista Company. She told my skull it did a really good job of protecting my brain and then she was like..."think how well the skull works, I've only known one person whose skull didn't hold up its end of the deal and after a horrible car accident this person had brain damage." I was like um excuse me? Is this supposed to be relaxing? Fortunately she assured me my odds were good since it was only one person out of the tens of thousands of people that she's known over the years. Whew. Then when we got to my eye sockets my odds went down a little. She's known three people whose eye sockets didn't do a good job of protecting the eyes and these people had severe vision loss. P.S. That was my first eye socket massage ever. Interesting, but I'm not sure how highly I'd recommend it. Oh I forgot to tell you that at the beginning she was telling me (in a masseuse voice) that people store stress in 4 areas, including the anal sphincter. Hmm...relaxing to think about. She told me that many people walk around with their anal sphinter tensed, although the only reason you really need to keep it tightened was if you have diarrhea. Oh yeah and she was flailing my arms around and whispering to me that I can pretend to be a balerina whenever I want. Thank you very much. Oh and I forgot to tell you about the story about ChiChi Chin and Hombre Hombro (that means man shoulder) and how they flirt and then she's making these kissy noises and acting like she's ChiChi Chin flirting with Hombre Hombro. This lasted a while. So wierd, this lady, so wierd. I'm definitely going back.

One time, at surf camp...

So after Monterrico we took this pickup truck (Guatie style: 5 in the cab, 6 in the bed...with all the luggage) to this surf camp like an hour away. This was no Trout Lake or even Shaminau style camp.

There were 3 bunk houses (where you could rent a bunk for $5 a night), a hut with a kitchen and eating area/office, and a bathroom.


Seriously the bunks were made out of PVC piping and cement and had nasty mosquito nets over them that I think might have been mosquito ponchos during the civil war here. From the looks of it they were used by the guerrilas. There were no blankets, a tiny pillow (an ex-couch cushion I think) and one sheet that you could choose to use as a pillowcase or a blanket. Goo!

The chickens and piglets roamed free around the camp, as did 4 or 5 stray dogs and random neighborhood children. Kala and Amy Peterson took one look at the place and left with the group that was on the way out. Yes, it was that bad. But so fun. Oh so fun.


We met some really cool people there, these awesome surfer guys from El Salvador (Kique, Mark, Gino, and Hongo-real name Rodrigo but they call him hongo, which means fungus...does that tell you anything about him?) Their spanish was so different from the Guatemalan spanish that I'm used to, so we had a little difficulty understanding eachother, but I learned some cool new Salvadorian slang. They were so fun, we all played in the waves all day and I tried boogie boarding. You would not believe how hard it is to get out past the crashing waves to where the waves haven't broken yet. My new friend Federico (from Argentina) let me hold on to his foot and he paddled out (he was on an actual surf board). So basically what I'm saying is that I looked really cool. I rode a couple of waves in but basically got worked. Even with the board. Now I know why surfers have such amazing bodies, it's like the biggest workout ever. I didn't realize it but when I got back to shore I was so red and sweating. Real sexy. We ate there, and the food was...how do I say this...not good? Lunch was spaghetti with ketchup instead of red sauce with raw hot dog chunks in it. It was worth what I paid for it I guess.



There was this little girl there named Roxanna...I think her aunt was the cook (Olivia), but she was precious. I showed her how to use the digital camera and she was so excited. She took pictures of her Beauty and the Beast book for hours! Poor thing though, she was so poor. Her teeth were rotting out, thankfully they're her baby teeth but I don't doubt that her adult teeth will get the same treatment.

That night we had a bonfire on the beach which was so fun. We brought Hannah's guitar down and played a little. Fortunately for me, the pig pen of the people next door was directly behind (within 2 feet) the back of my bunk house. I heard those squealing piglets all night. Oh yeah and the rooster crowing. At like 3 in the morning. Seriously wait till morning you moron! Anyhow I got up at 6 (how proud are you of me?) to surf, but the instructor never showed up (typical Guat) so Kique took me out boogie boarding again. It was so beautiful in the early morning. The guys were so cool, not like hitting-on or anything. Just fun. I even taught Mark how to play Boggle...yeah with English as his second language, we weren't geting past words like it and top. Dusty (Hannah's boyfriend) got sick and we realized that the waves were not good so we left right before lunch. Fun experience but I'd had enough of surf camp.

It was cute, when I went to take a picture of the roof of the cabin, I realized that ther's an enormous termite nest up there. Oh well at least I had my mosquito net to protect me right?

Monterrico

MORE PICS ON THE WAY!!!



Just got back from our amazing spring break trip. Yes, it was quite incredible. We went to a beach called Monterrico with black sand (kinda like the one from before, if you read that blog). We stayed in this cute hotel thing (who couldn't find my deposit...ahh, yeah we're still figuring that out...I did do it though, I promise!) in one huge room with 4 double beds and a bathroom. Here's Kala and I in our bed with the romantic mosquito netting. First you think it's romantic, then you're like, oh yes, this is here because there are attacker insects. Super.


There's not a lot to do in the town so we were on the beach most of the time. And when I say on the beach I mean in the waves getting rocked. Monterrico is famous for it's killer beaches. Literally. Lots of people die there every year (even a US marine last year) because the rip tide is so strong. Fortunately I did not die. However one time I had been playing in the waves with the girls in this kinda secluded area and we were being silly girls and let's just say I got tangled in my swimsuit. Yes. In the raging waves. Somehow I made it back in. Amy described the waves like "being in a washing machine", but I think Kala's description of an angry underwater tornado was more appropriate. We went on tons of beach walks, I think I walked hundreds of miles.

We found some EXCELLENT things on the beach. Such as a puffer fish (which we named Fester) a big fat fish with rabbit teeth (dang, didn't get a pic of that one) which we dissected...I used some of its bones in my hair like hair pins. Seriously it was so hard to dissect. When I walked by it I was so excited. Kala was like "Yeah I saw it on the way there, I didn't want to tell you cuz I knew you'd dissect it." I was like "Kals, that's not nice at all! Don't you want to see what's inside it?" "You have no idea how much I don't want to see" was the response. Hah, I made her look anyways. Oh yeah, and on a different walk, we found this man.

Well not like found, but like saw. He was probably like 45 and super nice. He told us that we should go check out this alligator sanctuary (is that sacreligious) but we told him we'd already seen the Tortugario (turtle farm...lamest thing I've ever seen. One sea turtle, 6 babies, tons of carcasses of turtles and egg shells. Not cool at all.). He told us he raised the alligators and did we want to see some. Of course we wanted to see them. Why would you not go with a strange man you find on the beach to his house to see alligators? Fortunately for us, the house was not far and he did in fact have alligators, it was not just a creepy way to get young girls to go to his house. He had this awesome old man (named Guillermo but was called Crocodile Dundee...with a Guatemalan accent) who took care of the alligators (and sea turtles too!). See all the cool things that can happen when you put your life at stake?

Kala and I really really really wanted to boogy board so we walked the whole town looking for them but NOBODY sold them, but we did see lots of enormous pigs wandering the streets and a man leaning against the wall looking all cool...with his pants around his ankles. Like it was no big deal. Shoes on, belt in the pants, cute little grey boxer briefs. He whistled at us as we walked by (Kala's blond...every man between the ages of 9 and death hits on her). We passed and were like, did we just see that? I guess the guys down here are all competing for the ladies, so whatever gives you a competitive edge right? Although I think this man's tactics may have been a little...off. Like his pants.


Anyhow, we didn't find boogy boards but know what we did find? INNER TUBES! They were so fun in the waves. We took some video of it. We looked really cool walking down the beach (and through town, who are we kidding) in our swimsuits with these inner tubes made for ages 5 and under around our waists. Don't worry, we remembered that they are not to be used as lifesaving devices.



The nights were so fun, we'd just sit on the beach and Hannah would play her guitar and we'd watch the waves. Why do all the romantic moments happen when it's just girls? Not fair. Then Dusty, Hannah's boyfriend, came the last day and that was so fun. They were so cute together, not obnoxious or lovey-dovey or anything, just so fun. (They were there for the final part of the dissection of Fester.) Molly this is them with their arms around you. Missing you so much. Monte was fun but seriously nothing what it would have been with you. We're still praying for you and momma every day. Loves. Oh yeah and then some of our friends from Antigua (and Matt) came to visit so that was fun! They definitely appreciated the tubes.

Molly's boyfriend

Moll...I saw your boyfriend on Sunday, he told me he misses you and so is wearing this purple dress for mourning. And also for directing traffic around Antigua.

Rabies and Vesicare

So because of Molly leaving I thought I wouldn't necessarily need to take my Vesicare. (Sorry this blog wasn't intended to be a pee journal, but that's kinda what it's turned into!) Anyhow, bad idea not to take it. Today Kala and I were walking back from SI through the market and I almost lost it when she was telling me this story that has to do with diarrhea that I'm not allowed to repeat, but I made it that time. Then I was taking pictures of these 5 random dogs just passed out on the road.


Kala decides it's a good idea to go lay down with these dogs for a picture. The dogs seem to be cool with it, and just as I'm about to snap the photo the jump up and charge her snarling and barking. I have never seen anyone book it so fast in my life. Honestly. I got a pic (but it's with my sucky camera so it's not very good) of them literally snipping at her heels!


She ran straight for me (what a great friend right?) and hides behind me! Why would you do that? Do you want us both killed? Well for some reason it worked (I think there's something intimidating about my face) and they left us alone. But I was laughing so hard that I frickin lost it on the dirt. Right there. And then when we looked up there were, not joking, 15 men who had been working in the market (or just hanging out homeless...actually that was the majority of them) just laughing at us. Wait. 15 men within 20 yards of us and NOT ONE OF THEM tried to save us? That is not funny at all. If those dogs ever attack them I'm for sure not rushing in to save them! So there!

Wedding and Wounds

Saturday was so fun. My friend Pepe is a fireman and one of his fireman buddies (bombero=fireman...word of the day!) was getting married and I got to go! It was really cool to see a Guatie wedding, it wasn't super unlike other Catholic weddings I've been to (oh yeah except for the fact that it was in Spanish), but they did a few cool things. When the couple left the church they had a firehose on either side making a big water arc that they ran through. It was so cute.


Then we went to this reception and I honestly have never received so many dirty looks. It's cuz I'm a gringa (girl from the US) and Guat girls are very possessive and jealous (or so Pepe told me). He told me that he'd never seen anything like it when I walked in to the reception. Once I talked to them the girls were really sweet, but they just have these wierd ideas about women from the US! Trust me, I'm not trying to steal your men. I think Guatemalan women are some of the most beautiful women I've ever seen so they really don't have anything to worry about. Anyhow it was cool, we sat at the table with all the firemen and their girls and ate and talked.


Even though Pepe speaks really good English I made him speak Spanish the whole time. Proud of me? K so that was Saturday. Sunday I didn't do a whole lot, except suffer one of the most painful injuries of my life! No I'm not joking. We went to Fernando's house (the SI man) to make pizzas, and as I get off the bus I start crossing the street and no joke this little blue car comes out of NOWHERE! So idiot Crista books it like a loser across the street super exaggerated-like to be funny right? Yeah bad idea. Member what the streets are like around here? My sandal catches and I honestly slam into the ground on this gravely nasty stuff. I was laughing but was in tons of pain. K so I'm bleeding a little but I didn't think it was that bad.



Then when we got to Fernando's I couldn't clean it well enough and there were all these rocks embedded in my skin, so I decided to go to the doctor's house (yeah the same one I went to at the beginning). She starts cleaning my hand out and I start to get dizzy and am understanding less and less Spanish. I tell her I need to sit down so I go up the stairs to the couch, but the next thing I remember I'm kneeling on the ground with my head on the couch and there's people helping me up. Once I sit down the doctor's face comes into focus and she's telling me I need to go on weight control. I was so confused...that's not the type of thing that you usually say to people right after they faint...until I realized that it was because she and her boyfriend had been trying to lift me off the floor...unsuccessfully. Crap not only do I frequently wet myself and damage my body acting stupid for attention, I'm enormous. The doctor's so sweet, she brought me back up to her room and I took a nap on her bed, then she finished cleaning out my wounds. Seriously I'm such a baby. It probably didn't help that I hadn't eaten all day except Corn Pops (gotta have my pops!) I felt like such a loser, that night I was laying in bed in so much pain and I kept going "Jesus hurt worse than this, Jesus hurt worse than this!" For some reason it didn't console me that much.

Here I am applying anesthesia the next morning (please note the morning hair) so I can clean out my booboo. First it was funny and of course I loved the attention (pobresita!!!) and now it's just frickin' annoying. I can't dress myself and I get Neosporin and puss all over everything. I just hope it's better by this weekend when we go to the beach!